The ICD-11 of the World Health Organization (WHO) changes the word Transsexuality to Gender Incongruence
It has been widely reported in the media that the WHO has removed transsexuality from its list of mental illnesses, which is only partially true. The WHO has never referred to problems related to sexual health as "illnesses," but rather as disorders, and the DSM also uses the same term.
What the WHO has actually done is adapt the nomenclature, and its clinical description, to that made by the American Psychiatric Association in its DSM 5 Manual. To do this, one of the changes has been to group problems related to sexual health under the same heading: CONDITIONS RELATED TO SEXUAL HEALTH (17), which includes two sections: The different SEXUAL DYSFUNCTIONS:
- Hypoactive sexual desire disorder.
- Sexual arousal dysfunctions.
- Orgasmic dysfunctions.
and GENDER INCONGRUITY, in turn with two variants:
- Gender incongruence in adolescence and adulthood.
- Gender incongruence in childhood.
Let's see what the ICD-11 criteria are for being able to talk about Gender Incongruence.
- Gender incongruence in adolescence and adulthood.
Gender incongruence in adolescence and adulthood is characterized by a marked and persistent incongruence between an individual's gender experience and assigned sex, manifested by at least two of the following: 1) intense discomfort with one's primary or secondary sex characteristics (in adolescents, anticipation of secondary sex characteristics) due to their incongruence with their experienced gender; 2) a strong desire to be rid of some or all of one's primary and/or secondary sex characteristics (in adolescents, anticipation of secondary sex characteristics) due to their incongruence with one's gender experience; 3) a strong desire to have the primary and/or secondary characteristics of the experienced gender. The individual experiences a strong desire to be treated (lived and accepted) as a person of the experienced gender. The experienced gender must be present for at least several months. The diagnosis has not been assigned before the onset of puberty.
Variations in gender behavior and preferences alone are not sufficient to assign the diagnosis.
- Gender incongruence in childhood.
"Gender incongruence in childhood is characterized by a marked incongruence between the gender experienced by the individual and the sex assigned at prepuberty in children. It includes a strong desire to be a different gender than the assigned sex; strong discomfort about some part of their sexual anatomy or anticipated secondary sexual characteristics and/or a strong desire for the primary and/or anticipated secondary sexual characteristics consistent with their lived gender; and emulation of games, toys, or activities with peers that are typical of the experienced gender rather than the assigned sex. The incongruence must persist for about two years."
Variations in gender behavior and preferences alone are not sufficient to assign the diagnosis.
In conclusion
I think the media They have spread a news story that does not correspond to reality at all.
What it's called now is not important to me. "gender incongruence" o gender dysphoria (It's the same thing), but rather to find a way for science to advance in understanding a real phenomenon that causes great suffering to those who experience it. All self-serving ideologies must be eliminated, and science must take the lead.
Indeed, although less so these days, people who suffer from this problem have been stigmatized and have been, and still are, victims of discrimination and rejection. But I don't believe the way to overcome the stigma is by hiding the truth, but rather by educating society about diversity. If we simply say that the label stigmatizes, then we would have to remove the label from all the problems listed in the ICD-11 related to mental, behavioral, and sexual health.
